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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24443551">Of Pianos, Parents, and All the Messy Things Surrounding Growing Up</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldishRedIllusion/pseuds/GoldishRedIllusion'>GoldishRedIllusion</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Continuing my streak at being terrible at titles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, anita canonically plays, anitacissie, dealing with the after effects of the last few issues of young justice (1998), i may come back and edit this one later too, so techically, the piano and I decided, to go ham, yes that is their ship name I declare it so</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:40:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,090</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24443551</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldishRedIllusion/pseuds/GoldishRedIllusion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Raising your own parents isn't as easy as it sounds- and it doesn't sound easy at all.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anita Fite &amp; Cissie King-Jones, Anita Fite/Cissie King-Jones, Cissie King-Jones &amp; Anita Fite</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Pianos, Parents, and All the Messy Things Surrounding Growing Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>"I want validation for my writing," local girl says as she posts for yet another rarepair</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The sun had set and the moon and night had truly fallen by the time Anita’s parents had finally fallen asleep, Cissie shut the door, being careful not to wake Don and Oshi. Murmurs of Bonnie’s and Ishido’s conversation drifted up the stairs, and the soft sound of a piano poured out of the room down the hall. She slipped through the open doorway, the piano filling the air as she listened soundlessly. It filled the air of this odd twilight- this end of a period of light. There was a sense of finality to it all, that something had ended and playtime was over now. Cissie had frozen in the doorway, hands clenched on the doorframe, the music washing through the air. After a moment, Anita paused, smirking, and spoke into the now still air,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know I know you’re there, right?” Startled, Cissie replied</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh- I, yeah duh, of course I did.” She recovered quickly, leaning on the frame of the door, a smile playing at the edge of her lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anita turned around to look at her, spark in her eye, “It's fine, mon, you can keep listening if you want. I’ve played for a whole plane, I won’t get nervous for you.” Anita said, a small grin playing upon her lips as she waved her off. Cissie grinned back despite herself, taking up a spot on the couch as Anita began to play again, the music dancing up and around them like an old friend- like old friends and bad tv shows and archery competitions. And yet, despite all that, it wasn’t just happy- it was happy and sad and even angry all at once, and it made Cissie feel things deep in her chest that made her want to scream and cry and shout- for what was lost and for what still was. It continued on, higher and higher, louder and louder- angrier now, angry at the world, angry for what was gone, for what was no more. And then, just as she reached the crescendo, Anita slammed the keys, blinking rapidly as she tried to suck in staggering breaths of air, hands shaking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ohmygod,” Cissie said, standing up quickly, “Are you alright?” She kneeled down next to the piano bench, as Anita quietly cried, head in her hands. Slowly, she sat up again, hair mussed and eyes red.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Its...its- he's my dad! They’re my parents, and now they’re kids, mon, and I don’t know what to do! I can’t be Empress anymore, I can barely hang out with my friends and you anymore- I mean, how am I even going to graduate high school now?” She was shaking, voice getting louder and louder, “How am going to do it, Cissie? How am I going to do it!” She said, hands clenching and voice reaching a fever high pitch as she stared Cissie down, purple eyes full of fire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Restraining the instinctive response to snap back, Cisse took her hand in hers, and, taking a deep breath, said “I- I don’t know, Anita. I don’t know. I’ll help with your parents- the kids, I mean, and I’m sure Cassie and Greta- heck, even the boys, would be entirely willing to look after them whenever they can, but it’s not- there’s not going to be a perfect solution.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”I know that, Cissie,” Anita shot back, shoving Cissie away from her, hair whipping over her shoulder, “They’re my parents and- and they’re- they’re...they’re kids! How does that work, mon? How do I raise my own parents!” She shouted, breathing heavily, hands clenched. There was a pause, a moment of silence as Anita closed her eyes, breathing deeply in and out as she clenched and unclenched her fists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m...it’s not fair.” And she thought of her conversation with Slobo- her friend, someone else who was just gone now, and it wasn’t- it wasn’t fair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Anita,” Cissie murmured back, and Anita wondered how much self control it took for her not to snap back, to hold back her snark, “It’s not fair.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Anita whispered back, as she picked at her nails, blinking rapidly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But hey, Ishido is going to move in, right? He’ll help, won’t he?” Cissie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he will,” Anita responded, wiping her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Anita?” Cissie asked, taking Anita’s hand in hers, “On Empress, it's not much, but I could take your spot for a few hours on the weekends and watch your parents, and you could be Empress then.” She would miss out on some archery practice, but that was fine- after all, she had spent most of her life doing that, she could miss some of it now. Anita sucked in a breath and said, “You would do that? For me, mon? I think I might love you a little bit.” She leaned back on the bench, smiling as she wiped at her eyes, as Cissie tried to ignore the sun-like feeling unfurling in her chest at Anita’s words. After a pause, Anita said “I just- I don’t want to be left behind, you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Cissie whispered back, chest full of light, “But you won't be- I know that much, remember?” Anita cracked a grin at that, thinking back to how Cissie was around her at first.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess you would.” It didn’t make hers fear go away- not completely, but it did make her feel better, even if it was only a tiny bit. There was a lull in the conversation again, but this time it was lighter- like a great weight had been taken off, and although there were still problems, they didn’t seem quite as heavy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Turning toward Cissie, Anita smiled, tear tracks still visible, and said “I’ve been working on learning a new song. You want to be my first audience?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Cissie smiled back, brushing her hair from her face, and said “Yes” And then, before the mood changed and she lost her chance, she forced out “And hey, Anita?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Anita replied, raising an eyebrow as she shuffled through the sheet music.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I love you too.” And Anita looked Cissie in the eye and smiled, and both of them felt something light and ticklish deep in their chests.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then Anita played.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t a perfect rendition- it was messy, and off-key at times and occasionally missing crucial notes- but it didn’t have to be. It was happy, and it was full of love, and it was a start. A start of something good.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yeah that ending was rushed but oh well. I...felt alright about the characterization here? It took a couple tries but I'm pretty good about it now, even though there are some flaws I think<br/>Edit: I changed a lot of things and I’m way happier with it now...pretty proud actually, although I may still come back and touch up a bit</p></blockquote></div></div>
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